Thousands served in humanitarian programs in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The provincial government of Maguindanao has provided health services to 8,310 indigent patients in seven remote areas in relief missions that started early this week under a continuing humanitarian program in support of President Aquino’s peace overtures with Moro sectors.

The outreach missions fed more than 2,000 children in Barangays Kauran, Talisawa, Decalongan, Banaba, and Tubak, all in Ampatuan municipality; at Old Maganoy in Mamasapano; and at Hill 224 at the tri-boundary of the adjoining Datu Saudi, Shariff Aguak and Guindulungan towns.

Lynette Estandarte, chief provincial budget officer, said Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu is grateful for the support extended by local officials, the police, and different Army units to the medical outreach missions in the seven barangays.

The provincial government already served 27,236 medical and dental patients in different parts of the province in the past two years.

Estandarte said that next week, they will conduct more relief missions in Montawal town and in selected areas in the first district of Maguindanao.

Estandarte said their outreach projects are two-pronged – to deliver basic services right at the center of the beneficiary-barangays and to complement President Aquino’s confidence-building measures for the Mindanao peace process.

Meanwhile, the provincial government of Maguindanao said it will offer 1,800 more college scholarship slots under the Maguindanao Program on Education Assistance and Community Empowerment (MagPEACE) project.

The MagPEACE, supervised by the office of Mangudadatu, already has 1,200 beneficiaries enrolled in different schools in Maguindanao and surrounding provinces.

Mangudadatu said in an emailed statement that he has also ordered people involved in the project to determine the viability of increasing the allowances of scholars in the next school year.

Engineer Sukarno Datukan, administrator of the Upi Agricultural School (UAS) in North Upi town, said he was elated with the planned expansion of the MagPEACE program.

There are more than 400 MagPEACE scholars studying agriculture courses at UAS.
    
“Education is one of the best interventions we can give to Maguindanao’s poor Moro and Christian communities. If we educate our children now, we are building an empowered community that shall rise tomorrow,” Datukan said.

Datukan said the UAS has actively been supporting the MagPEACE program, which aims to educate grantees on the importance of Muslim-Christian solidarity and ecumenism as vital factors needed in accelerating the attainment of peace and sustainable development in the province.